It's interesting that TPID is considered a Sun/Jin-centric since the narrative focus is scattered all over the place. But as Lapidus would say, I'll just roll with it.
The less compelling storyline was off-island, where Ben and some Losties stand at a pier debating whether to return to the island. I'm surprised this part was stretched across a whole episode, for all that really happens is 1) Sun holds a gun to Ben, 2) a total of four people in the world believe she's actually going to shoot him, 3) Ben lures everyone to a church where enlightenment awaits. Or in this case, Eloise.
The good stuff's happening on the island, where Rousseau's research team gets abused by the Smoke Monster. One member is pulled under the Temple and dismembered, Nadine is flipped around like a pancake and killed, and the others simply get "sick". It's worth nothing that Robert claimed the Monster was a security system for the Temple, but he was sick while making that claim. This was a nice "out" for the writers to wriggle away from that particular description of the Monster and also explains why Danielle made the claim sixteen years later.
The time flashes are merciless, but they ultimately put Jin right into the lap of Locke's group. That's the good news. The bad news is they also take the ultimate toll on Charlotte, killing her after she reveals her childhood time on the island.
Finally Locke's group reaches the Orchid. Long story short, Locke has a chat with MiB-Christian in the Orchid well before turning the frozen donkey wheel. Very sadly, the Orchid well would be the last thing Locke ever sees on the island.
With absolutely no disrespect intended to the centric characters, first mention has to go to Rebecca Mader's performance. Let's face it, none of us know what it's like when one's mind is caught between realities and trying so hard to reconcile things that it ends up hemorrhaging. Her extended descent toward death was portrayed so well it made me uncomfortable to think about what it'd even be like to slowly waste away like that.
Daniel Dae Kim was pretty solid in his scenes with young Rousseau, struggling to force out enough English to keep everyone safe (better luck next time I guess). This was by far the most English we've heard Jin speak, so kudos to DDK for keeping everything running through his faux Korean-to-English filter along the way.
Terry O'Quinn took the last few scenes and elevated them to the heights where they belonged. Unbelievable performance, especially after falling down the Orchid well and mangling his leg.
Bonus points for Melissa Farman for coming out of nowhere and slipping right into the role of young Rousseau. Admittedly I'm a little biased because I've always enjoyed Rousseau's character, but considering Farman's professional resumé isn't all that extensive it's pretty impressive she slipped right into the show and blended in so well.
TPID featured quite a bit of footage with the Smoke Monster. The CGI itself is fine, but I'm always impressed with extended Monster scenes because the Director is going solely off script cues and fighting whatever instincts and tendencies they'd usually have while filming. It can't be easy to keep your subject off to one side while keeping focus on... well, nothing... in the jungle for a few seconds, knowing the rest will be filled in later.
Great use of wide/crane shots on Charlotte's death and the temple scene where Jin time-flashes. And speaking of the Temple, it was satisfyingly disgusting to see Montand lose his arm in a tug-of-war. Yowsa, that'll leave a mark.
I wasn't too crazy about the design of the well itself (why are all the wells on the island so perfectly constructed?), but I did enjoy the effect of the light flashing up toward Locke as he hung onto the rope. I'm pretty sure I would've soiled myself in that situation.
There's really not much to rewatch in terms of the off-island storyline but if you're a fan of Rousseau and the island mythology this episode stands the test of time. It's especially poignant when you realize the trek to the Orchid would be real-Locke's last trip through the jungle.
Despite his desperate search to fulfill his purpose as dictated by the island, he was willing to depart his new home in the hopes of bringing everyone back "even if it killed him". And as we know, that's exactly what happened.
Add Charlotte's death to the significance category; even if you didn't particularly like her character (a lot of fans didn't, I did) you've got to admit her death was quite miserable and distressing.
The atmosphere of TPID was at its best in the early scenes with young Danielle and the late scenes with Locke and MiB-Christian in the Orchid. The best part is they had atmosphere for two completely different reasons; one was fleshing out something we'd known about for years, the other was clearly setting us up for almost two full seasons to come.
I've always been sad to see Charlotte go, but now that I know the full series arc it makes every death that much more traumatic. The worst part is she might have caught on with the audience had her back story not been one of the biggest casualities of the writers' strike. Rest in peace, Charlotte!
